Major League Baseball needs a salary cap

It's December, so that means it's time for Major League Baseball teams to throw Monopoly money at free agent players.

As a kid, my favorite game was Monopoly. I'd get the two $500 bills to start the game and I'd think, "Wow, I'll never have this much money in real life."

Then when the game was over, we'd put the Monopoly money away and I'd go back to the $2.50 that was in my piggy bank.

To me, the money that baseball teams have been giving to players recently can't be real. It must be Monopoly money.

Look at these contracts:

The New York Yankees and pitcher CC Sabathia: seven years, $161 million.

The Yankees and pitcher A.J. Burnett: five years, $82.5 million.

The Cleveland Indians and pitcher Kerry Wood: two years, $20.5 million.

The New York Mets and pitcher Francisco Rodriguez: three years, $37 million.

Does that include a Christmas bonus? Better make sure. You wouldn't want to get short-changed.

Honestly, doesn't anyone else feel that at a time when nearly everyone in this country is having to make sacrifices economically, Major League Baseball should follow suit? That instead of setting new records for highest contracts in history, the industry should get a reality check?

It's simple: The baseball players' union and the team owners need to agree on a salary cap, which would allow (1) the teams to lower ticket prices and (2) the players, frankly, to get at least slightly more in touch with the common person.

With a salary cap, CC Sabathia might make, say, $15 million a year instead of $23 million. Kerry Wood might make $7 million a year instead of $10 million. I know it's an awful lot to ask, but I think they would still be able to scrape by.

Absent a salary cap, the day isn't far off when we'll see players make $50 million a year.

If you're not a professional athlete, that's a pretty cruel joke, especially in today's economy.

* Syracuse University basketball player Eric Devendorf is making headlines for the wrong reasons, and his coach is enabling him.

Devendorf, a former Bay City Central star, allegedly struck a female student in the face on Nov. 1. A university judicial board cleared him of causing physical harm to that student, but determined that he had violated codes of conduct that included harassment, and recommended that he be suspended for the rest of the academic year.

Devendorf has appealed that decision, and what's more, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim thumbed his nose at the judicial board by starting Devendorf in Saturday's game against Long Beach State.

Bottom line: If a university judicial board recommends a student be suspended for the rest of the academic year, as a coach you can't disregard that. Boeheim needs to stand up for what's right and bench Devendorf - at least until a ruling is made on his appeal.

* What's the deal with all the NBA teams firing their coaches?

Maurice Cheeks became the fifth NBA coach to be fired this season when the Philadelphia 76ers canned him on Saturday.

Five coaches fired - less than a third of the way into the season. What ever happened to having a little patience?

These team owners are treating their coaches like television producers treat their new shows nowadays: if it's not an overnight success, yank it off the air. Things don't work that way. Success takes time, and if you're not willing to wait for it, you may never achieve it.